28 January 2013

My 365 Grateful Project: Week #38

PLAYING WITH THE POWER OF GRATITUDE
Find Something For Which to Be Grateful. Take a Picture of It. Repeat 365 times.

DAY 260: January 21, 2013  |  My #handmade Christmas scarf is keeping me warm today! Thanks GrandMary. #365grateful



DAY 261: January 22, 2013  |  I don't know why exactly but I just love fog #cozy #365grateful



DAY 262: January 23, 2013  |  Reading makes the commute so much more bearable #365grateful



DAY 263: January 24, 2013  |  Spud loves this cave boy snack ... banana/almondbutter/coconut. #paleo #365grateful



DAY 264: January 25, 2013  |  The kid ate a lettuce leaf. And liked it. #justsayin' #milestone #365grateful



DAY 265: January 26 2013  |  A bit of a shopping tradition. #taketheramp #365grateful



DAY 266: January 27, 2013  |  Still life is set up for Spud and I; playing with soft pastels today #nofilter #365grateful



See Week one here.
Check out my original inspiration here and here.

21 January 2013

My 365 Grateful Project: Week #37

PLAYING WITH THE POWER OF GRATITUDE
Find Something For Which to Be Grateful. Take a Picture of It. Repeat 365 times.

DAY 253: January 14, 2013  |  Icy and frosty frostiness out there this morning. Came close but didn't bail once. #365grateful



DAY 254: January 15, 2013  |  Got this book out of the library. Love it so much I went out and bought my own copy! Happy! #austinkleon #365grateful




DAY 255: January 16, 2013  |  Committing to another year of freelancing! #blessed #365grateful




DAY 256: January 17, 2013  |  Almost ripe. #365grateful



DAY 257: January 18, 2013  |  New pen day! Love. #365grateful




DAY 258: January 19, 2013  |  That fuzzy looking blob is actually a teeny #snail. We suddenly went from 0 to dozens over night. Wonder how big they'll get? #365grateful



DAY 259: January 20, 2013  |  Bacon-wrapped-almond-stuffed-dates just came out of the oven and the apartment is smelling crazy-good right now #365grateful #paleo



20 January 2013

Book: Art Lab for Kids

Look what Spud and I got for Christmas! Some of my favourite weekend time is doing arty things with my boy and this Art Lab for Kids is going to make it that much more fun. It has 52 art projects in all, presumably designed for one per week for a year ... well, I'm not promising that we are going to be able to fit it in every week but we are starting at "Lab 1" and working our way through, when we can.


We just completed Lab 3 — scribble drawings.



Spud found 4 animals in his scribble. A fish, a penguin (rear view), a whale, and a seal.


He cut them out and put them on this icy scene.


I found one giant snail in my scribble.


There are 3 things I love about this book. First, it's full of "real" art projects; in that they are not "kiddie crafts" per se. Not that there's anything wrong with kiddie crafts, they are good clean fun too, but sometimes I find them to be a little patronizing and can lack imagination and opportunities to build skills. These "labs", as they call them, really get you thinking or seeing things in a new way. They are real exercises in learning skills through experimentation and while they are appropriate for kids, they are good for anyone.

The second thing I love about this book is the range of media it exposes us too. I've never used soft pastels before, for example (Lab 2). I knew about oil pastels but had never even heard of soft pastels. A little trip to our local art store helped me discover gorgeous, vibrantly coloured media that blends brilliantly. I'm hooked. Even the kid, who doesn't like getting his hands dirty, was smitten with them.

The third thing I love about this book, are the little blurbs that encourage us to take risks and lose our obsessions with being perfectly representational. Perfectionism can kill creativity. Our boy has a healthy dose of each so he can be conflicted sometimes. Whenever Spud is hesitating to delve into something scary, like doing a still life, without an eraser! ... I read some of the wisdom from the book and it seems to make it easier for him to just go for it.

Really looking forward to Lab 4 and beyond.

16 January 2013

Bento: Cylindrical Rice Mold

Haven't used this rice mold in forever! I made these little 1" cylinders last night with the leftover brown rice from Spud's dinner. They were a bit loose at first but an overnight in the fridge made them more stable. By packing things around them I'm hoping they won't get jostled too much. I packed a spoon just in case.


BOTTOM TIER
· Brown rice
· Sundried olives
· Ham
· Cucumber



TOP TIER
· Apple
· Mini mandarins
· Blueberries

14 January 2013

My 365 Grateful Project: Week # 36

PLAYING WITH THE POWER OF GRATITUDE
Find Something For Which to Be Grateful. Take a Picture of It. Repeat 365 times.

DAY 246: January 7, 2013  |  Eternally grateful for this precious human being who helped shape our boy. #365grateful





DAY 247: January 8, 2013  |  Tea time. #365grateful #lemonherbaltea #offcoffee





DAY 248: January 9, 2013  |  My purse pencil case chock full of goodies today. #365grateful





DAY 249: January 10, 2013  |  No rice roll. Yum. #365grateful





DAY 250: January 11, 2013  |  Warmth of winter sun. #365grateful





DAY 251: January 12, 2013  |  Taped. Plastic wrapped. Ready for paint! #365grateful





DAY 252: January 13, 2013  |  Golden Globes. Bowties. Frocks. Speaches. Love. And Jodi Foster! #365grateful




See Week one here.

07 January 2013

My 365 Grateful Project: Week #35

PLAYING WITH THE POWER OF GRATITUDE
Find Something For Which to Be Grateful. Take a Picture of It. Repeat 365 times.

DAY 239: December 31, 2012  |  Enjoying the new reading nook in my office #365grateful



DAY 240: January 1, 2013  |  Pomelo snack #365grateful (note: first time having pomelo, thumbs up!)



DAY 241: January 2, 2013  |  Woke up to Paleo "oatmeal" via Hubs! Apple sauce, almond butter, honey and ? Yum! And kid approved. #365grateful  (note: not honey, but coconut milk. so good!)



DAY 242: January 3, 2013  |  Over 25 degrees in our apt right now ... All from the streaming sun in the windows #virtualsummer #365grateful



DAY 243: January 4, 2013  |  Targets set up for the paper rockets we just made #365grateful



DAY 244: January 5, 2013  |  Taking down Xmas was a bit depressing for everyone. Spud and I treated ourselves to some lazy afternoon time snuggling in bed with a new book! #365grateful



DAY 245: January 6, 2013  |  I NEVER thought I'd say this but I'm grateful for Coffee News. The kid likes it a lot! #365grateful



See Week one here.

05 January 2013

Paper Rockets


Decorated paper made into a tube makes a fun indoor paper rocket. And easy! Tape up one end and slip a straw in the other end. Blow in the straw to launch the rocket. Hubs also had the idea of adding a fin to enhance stability but we didn't get that far. Next time.

What we did do is set up a target field in our hallway which turned out to be loads of fun.


Check out the full tutorial on making paper rockets at Curious Kangaroos.

04 January 2013

DIY Magic Wallet


Well, school is still out and things are starting to wind down from the whirlwind that was our holidays. So it's long overdue crafty time! Today we made magic wallets, out of scrap cardboard. I remember having something like this, and marveling over it for hours, so I thought it would be a fun one.

Open the wallet one way and the money is under the green ribbon.


Open it the other way and it miraculously shows up under the orange ribbon!


Who knew it would be so easy to make!





Materials:
• Cardboard, cut down to desired size (we added a piece to the front and back cover as well to hide the ribbon ends)
• Ribbon, 2 different colours
• Glue Dots
• Markers

For the full How To we love the tutorial on mini eco.

03 January 2013

Best of 2012

Oh it was a good year. We had a remarkable summer playing with our bucket list. And lots of other fun times too. Here are my top 12 favourite posts, in no particular order.

1. Surprise Valentine Ball



2. Math Printable: Make the Biggest Number



3. Travel Journal Supplies



4. Spud's Vienna: 6 Favourite Things



5. Photo Friday #51: Running into Royalty



6. Top 10 Summer Fun Passport 2012 Posts



7. Lunch with a Protein Punch



8. My Latest Obsession: White and Gold Sharpies



9. New Bento Snack Box



10. Pizza Box Laptop



11. Hagrid's Rock Cakes



12. A When I Grow Up Poster